Dnf for me.
I know it's called "letters to..." but I didn't gel at all with how it was written and I just could not enjoy the story.
I'm sure it's a brilliant read for someone, but that someone isn't me unfortunately

Oh this was absolutely delightful!! This magical academia story was told in an epistolary fashion and whilst it took me a wee while to get into as I’ve never read anything written in this way before - it was so worth it!

The romance that developed between the main characters was so tender and beautiful and then the siblings and their significant others was also just adorable😩😩

I really enjoyed the way this story progressed and cannot wait for the next one!

If you liked A Natural History of Dragons or Emily Wildes Encyclopaedia of Faeries then you will love this!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this earc in exchange for my honest review.
A Letter to the Luminous Deep is a sweet and heartwarming story that also features a delicate representation of mental illness. I find this book perfect for fans of Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross, since it is mostly an epistolary novel, and Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan due to the underwater setting.
It is evident that the author truly cares about the characters and that she drew from her own experience to render this story special.
The only qualm I have with this novel is the writing style: I felt it was too cluttered at times (too many exclamation marks and parenthesis) and the characters had no personal idiolect (their specific way of speaking/writing), therefore everything felt the same. For this reason, I was truly able to lean into the story only after reaching the 25% mark.
Moreover, I would advise readers to read the synopsis before "diving" into the book, since there is hardly any world-building, and you are catapulted into a new world with little to no explanation as to why the world is how it is.

Overall, a solid start of series. I can't wait to read more about E. and Henerey.
3.5 stars

A beautiful discovery outside the window of her underwater home prompts the reclusive E to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henry Cell. These letters that they share are filled with passion. At first for their mutual interest, and then, inevitably, for each other. They uncover the mystery from the unknown depths, destined to transform the underwater world they both equally love and fear.

But by no mere coincidence, a seaquake destroys E’s underwater sanctuary, and she and Henry vanish. A year later, E’s sister Sophy, and Henry’s brother Vyerin, are left to solve the mystery of their sibling’s disappearance’s with the letters, sketches and field notes left behind. As they uncover the wondrous love their sibling’s shared. Sophy and Vyerin learn the key to their disappearance and what it could mean for life as they know it.

A gorgeous and beautfully imagined underwater setting with additional elements of whimsical academic sensibility this novel is a strange epistolary wonder. This novel was filled with a heart warming romance blossoming between an unlikely recluse and a young scholar, with an interwoven mystery against the backdrop of a wild imagined underwater world. This novel charmed me from the very first letter between lovers.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘈 𝘓𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘋𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘣𝘺 𝘚𝘺𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭

Thanks to the publisher orbit for granting me this e-arc in exchange for an honest review. sadly had to dnf this one. Books wholly written in letter form don’t tend to be my favorite thing, the last names being the same made it even more confusing to me and I constantly had to check who was writing to who which really took me out of the story.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep is a lovely novel that seamlessly blends genres together. its a little bit Sci fi, little bit historical, a bit of a mystery and a bit of wonderful romance.

I really did not think I would enjoy this book as much as I did. its told through letters and journals and follows two different time lines that meet at the end.

For those who like world building and explanation, this would fall short. the book is about the characters and the mystery of what happened to them but I never felt I needed to know more and feel that the second book would build more of the world and explain the situation.

E is such a wonderful character and it's wonderful to see such warmth acceptance of her conditions. It is a beautiful novel with wonderful representation. I cannot wait for the second one

It’s a delightful epistolary fiction, written in letters and sort of emails/telegraphs (automated post missive).
The book is set in 1002-1003, but has the technology of around 1900.
It is a very cozy read despite two characters being missing. I love the slow pace, in which we learn more about the people and their interpersonal relationships.
The worldbuilding is really excellent, and very detailed. I have a good idea of what it would look like.
Some of the characters had a more distinct voice, but at times it was a smidge confusing who was talking (if you skipped over the headers - which were very useful.) I would have appreciated some more tone nuances.
I feel at times the letters sound too much like there was dialogue, and wonder if parts should have been alternated as dialogue and letters. But that’s just nitpicking really.
I loved the queer relationships, and open acceptance in that world of queer relationships.
I will absolutely read the next book!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

Sophy Cidnorghe formerly Cidnosin short for Philosophy, and her sister who disappeared “E” Cidnosin.
Sophy, E and their brother Arvist grew up in the Deep House, a mostly submerged house from which to study ocean life.
She is writing Henerey Clel’s brother Vyerin Clel because he too disappeared.
Sophy is now living and studying on the Ridge. A submerged research and living facility.
Henerey was a scholar of classification at the Boundless Campus and wrote several books which interested E.
Vyerin Clel, who is married to his husband Reiv and they have two kids.

DNFed at 15%. I give all DNFs 1 star. I may return to this book at a later date as I was sooo excited for it!! But it has turned out to not be a book for me so far.

At 15% in, I’m still so confused by the world building. All the different colleges/universities/campuses (of which there are only actually 3, I think) and various locations and world building phrases about technology and people and the different societies and cultures, is just not explained. Which is the nature of an epistolary book, I know.

It is written through a series of letters and records and correspondence, in which the characters conversing are already familiar with the world and would have no need to write it into a letter to one another. However, that just leaves the reader so very confused. And then when it is occasionally contained in a letter or record it feels very forced and like a very intentional info dump followed by “oh but I’m sure you already knew this, so sorry for the rambling” or something to that effect. Which just annoyed me, if I’m honest.

There are also sooo many exclamation marks! At some points there is an exclamation mark every two or three sentences, which is insane and became very very annoying and frustrating to read. If this was just one character’s way of writing, I could have excused it as a character trait. But it’s with every single one of the four characters who have written things so far. Which makes it a writing style choice by the author, and that’s absolutely fine and others might not care about it at all, but it did start to majorly annoy me around the 8/9% mark (so very early on really).

I will also say that there is more chemistry (likely because so far there have been more interactions) between the brother of one of the love interests and the sister of the other love interest. Or I assume they (those that disappeared, not their siblings who are corresponding) are going to be the love interests based on what I have read so far. Because it is the respective siblings conversing about the missing siblings/love interests, it is them you spend all your time with even if they are discussing the others often.

This would be absolutely fine, if it wasn’t so confusing that they have this chemistry at all, as they are both married to separate people and both lgbtq. A gay man and a lesbian woman, both married to their respective loves. That is so wonderful and I love the representation being there. What I don’t like is that they often (and I mean very often) seem to have lots of flirty chemistry across their letters to one another, even though I logically know that is not what the author is likely intending to be the case, as they would not ever actually be attracted to each other. And if they hadn’t of stated their respective partners multiple times, I would have assumed them to be the main love interests.

But the fact that even with the knowledge that they are both married and in no way attracted to each other, them having some form of relationship seems far more plausible, so far, than the actual love interest characters that fell in love and disappeared, that they are discussing, is insane! A relationship I know to be impossible and not part of the plotline at all, feels entirely more realistic and possible than the actual relationship we are learning about and supposed to be falling in love with as it’s supposedly so romantic. I don’t understand how that has even happened.

This book is written mainly from the letter correspondence of the two respective siblings, with them sharing the correspondence of the love interests that the other love interest received and since their disappearance the siblings inherited. I feel like, if it had started, for a good majority and not a letter or two, from the actual love interests perspective in real time with their correspondence (and not looking back on it in the future trying to build a timeline of their relationship), and then have a cliff hanger letter of sorts, after which they disappear and so would have had no more letters, that would be the perfect place to start the respective siblings correspondence instead. I feel like that would have added more actual romance and connection to the love interest characters, built more mystery and suspense, and made the later formed connection of the respective siblings that much more bitter sweat and intriguing.

Like I said before, I may pick this up again at a later date. I do still really like the concept and I don’t think it’s a bad book at all. I just don’t think I’m getting on with the writing style, pacing or POVs (as such from the letters) so far.

4.5*

So, this has completely consumed me for the past day and while I did have breaks while reading this book (obviously), I couldn't stop thinking about it, because I really wanted to delve right back into this magical world that Cathrall created and never come back.

I looooved the prose of this book so much! I wanted to highlight so many different passages, but at some point I stopped myself, because it was becoming clear that I might end up highlighting the whole book. Here are couple of my favourites:

"Dear Henerey,
I wish that while you were here I could have had the opportunity to tell you how luminous you are"

"Please do not worry that I will be negatively surprised (perish the thought!) by what I find when we meet. On the contrary, your very existence in my life has been the most wondrous surprise imaginable."

AHHHHH

Now on to the review.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep is so enchanting, whimsical and witty that reading it feels like receiving the biggest, most comforting hug from the person you love dearly. It's also quirky, cute and speaks of such incredible adventures, that I'd have never been able to think of, let alone write something similar. And in the form of letters! Personally, I think that it is quite hard to tell the story in this way and not make it too 'dry', but, fortunately, author doesn't have this problem at all and was able to make her characters so real and human only through written correspondence.

One of our main characters is E. Cidnosin, a reclusive, who enjoys her own company much more than being with other people and spends most of her days in her underwater home called Deep House (relatable, I too would gladly stay at such house for unlimited amount of time if I had an opportunity). One day, E. decides to contact scholar Henerey Clel to express her admiration for his work and so their friendship begins. There is something so magical of seeing how slowly, but surely two introverted individuals find solace in each other and form a strong connection despite their usual habit of avoiding people as much as possible. It is very sweet and I found myself smiling more often than not while reading their correspondence to each other. Especially, once it was obvious that their feelings have started to grow. And their first meeting in person (!!!) was simply adorable. I might have been have been repeatedly saying 'aww' out loud and kicking my feet while reading that chapter (can confirm that actually happened).

But that's not all! At some point during their communication, E's beloved Deep House is destroyed by a seaquake and both her and Henerey disappear. A year passes and they are presumed dead, but their siblings - E's sister Sophy and Henerey's brother Vyerin - begin their own correspondence as well to look into the mystery of their disappearance. They start to share letters, field notes, sketches - everything that the pair left behind - and put the pieces back together to find out what actually happened. I absolutely adored how their shared love for their siblings was the primary thing keeping them going forward even despite the grief they both experienced. This mutual loss and understanding helps them form a deeper connection which eventually blossoms into a beautiful friendship. Also, it's important to mention, that Sophy is a researcher and shares her own experiences in the field with Vyerin, which, as the story progresses and more information is obtained, turns out out that her own adventures might be related to E's and Henerey's disappearance. Everything is linked, so it might seem that it should be easy to find out what actually happened, huh? Well, we shall see in the next book of this series! I, for one, cannot wait for it, although 2025 is truly far away still... which will give me enough time to reread this.

Thank you to Little Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions! As per publisher's request, my full review will be posted on Goodreads on the 11th of April, 2024.

Sadly this one didn't work for me. I haven't read an epistolary novel before, so I was interested in giving this one a try, especially because it was billed as an epistolary romance. But neither the epistolary aspect nor the romance worked for me. The epistolary nature of the book really constrained it, making it so that we had to keep getting letters from multiple characters to get the info we needed about the story. I also just felt like the epistolary nature of the book made it feel too episodic: letter after letter after letter. I don't know, it didn't make me feel particularly immersed in the story. The tone of the book didn't work for me either. I know this is supposed to be a cozy book, but the tone felt too...airy? Not juvenile necessarily, but almost too jovial or something for me to really feel connected to or interested in these characters.

This was such a great read, I loved it! The concept of having two timelines that we discover through letters made for a very compelling (and cool) story that had me hooked. It is a perfect blend of friendship, love story, sibling love, grief and mystery. I found the end slightly drawn out but I still looooved this story and can’t wait for book 2.

Summary: E. discovers beauty outside her underwater home, sparking a passionate correspondence with scholar Henerey Clel. Together, they unveil a mysterious underwater world, but vanish mysteriously in a seaquake. A year later, Sophy and Vyerin, their siblings, solve the disappearance and learn of a transformative love.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book, all thoughts are my own.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep is a beautifully written book that immediately captivates you from the start, it is written with the most epistolary narrative and presents such an immersive oceanic world-building that is vividly descriptive as well as giving you a plot filled with a major mystery after reclusive E and famous scholar Henrey clel vanish and it is left to E’s sister Sophy and Henrey’s brother Vyerin to search for answers through their own correspondence to search and learn what happened to their respective siblings.

The letters that E and Henrey share beautifully transcends the page as they go from correspondents to friendship to an intimate bond, this mainly carries the plot as each share common interests and the inevitable devotion they have for each other. The pen pal romance is beautifully written with each given a clear voice you couldn’t help but be swept along with them.

Transcending between letters between E and Henrey and Sophy and Vyerin ‘A letter to the luminous Deep ‘ is filled with a beautiful backdrop, well developed characters and the most beautiful writing that keeps you engaged from start to finish.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eArc.

In ‘ A Letter to the Luminous Deep’, Cathrall crafts a genuinely original and charming tale of a sister’s pledge to unravel the mystery behind her sibling’s dramatic disappearance. This is a satisfying epistolary novel, which exploits the genre to great effect, exploiting multiple narrators and timelines, without compromising the dynamic pace and forward motion of the plot. A great read in a deeply immersive narrative, I am already keenly anticipating the follow up!

"A Letter to the Luminous Deep" is an unexpected delight. The title and the blurb had hooked be enough to bypass by difficult relationship with epistolary novel, and what a good thing it was ! This format tends to put me too far from the characters, and there is some of that here, but it felt really balance and well crafted, giving that sense of intimacy and curious glance into the various chacaters' life. Shifting from one corresondance from another really helped in that regard, allowing the reader to glance for different elements of each character depending with whom they were writing. The added journal notes and even a trasncript were also a delightful touch, really bring the whole thing together and delivering a interesting, touching story.
The tone of the book alternates between something close to a sort of cosyness, grief, love and mystery, overall a balance I throuroughly enjoyed in its variety. Seeing relationships develops, other already well grounded with a sense of familiarity really wass a great adventure, supporting the mystery lurking underneath it all.
And the scenery ! Original (I never read something close to this), well crafted, delivered bit by bit, never overwhelming nor underwhelming, disorienting in a good way, exactly what I love when I read a fantasy book. Such sense of wonder and marvel! And queer normative, seemlessly so, wonderful. And, of course, the academic environment was fun to see and well crafted too.
As for the characters, they all have a sense of presence unique to them, even if we only meet them through their words, I'm amazed. Well flesh-out, with their own personnalities and narrative. I enjoyed each one of them for who they were and their relationship with others. Witnessing the love (romantic or platonic) blooming was lovely, and trying to piece the mystery together as we got information was fun. I can't say I was surprised by the resolution part, but I wasn't expecting too and didn't want too, so it's not a weakness for me.
I'm curious to see where to the story is going with the second book, I will absolutely read it !

A big thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book group for providing me with an early access copy of this book.

I will start off by saying that the main letter format of storytelling took some getting used to. I found it confusing remembering who’s who and their relation to one another. I also feel that I missed some key world building in these initial letters which impacted my initial enjoyment of the book. However, once I grew used to it, I began to love each of the characters.
Each person was an utter delight to read, their unique voice and personality carried through in each letter. I felt as though I too was helping to unravel mystery of E’s disappearance.

Mainly, I wanted to say that this is the best and most realistic representation of OCD in a book I’ve ever read. I want to thank the author for writing such a compelling character who didn’t let her ailment define her.

Lastly, this book has been one of the most unique and delightful experiences I’ve had with a book. Each character letter and correspondence created a vibrant narrative that immersed me in the underwater world of the luminous deep.

5 stars

I will post this review on the book’s goodreads page using my account on the 11th of April 2024.

Sylvie Cathrall's "A Letter to the Luminous Deep," captured me from the minute I opened the pages. It was a magical, delicate universe.

Letters between recluse E. and famous scholar Henerey Clel create an intimate bond that transcends the pages. The undersea environment, characterised as a treasure trove waiting to be opened, captivated me. Nosy and loving families, epistolary romance, and mystical academia are expertly woven by the author.

E. and Henerey's sweet penpal romance drives the plot. Their letters reflect their common interests and their inevitable and heartfelt devotion. Reading about their love, I hope for it to transcend the unknown depths they explore.

The major mystery, a finding from the unfathomable depths, keeps the pages turning. E. and Henerey vanish after the seaquake ruins their house, adding a dramatic twist. E.'s sister Sophy and Henerey's brother Vyerin's search for the truth shows the strength of family.

Cathrall's worldbuilding excels. The reader is immersed in the aquatic realm with vivid descriptions and amusing nuances. The author's ability to mix the fanciful with the real, such worried researchers being nice and curious, lends complexity to the story.

As I read the story, fellow writers' appreciation rings real. I enjoyed Mary McMyne's undersea setting, H.G. Parry's wonderful romance, and Lyra Selene's charm in Cathrall's debut as I turned each page.

"A Letter to the Luminous Deep" is a captivating work that defies description. The epistolary narrative and oceanic world-building produce a genuinely human and wildly fantastic tale. Sylvie Cathrall's watery tale stands out for its beautiful backdrop, sincere intimacy, and well-developed characters. This story was captivating from start to finish, unlike anything I've read before.